South Dakota Gets It Right: It's Not Assisted Suicide, It's Murder

In South Dakota, a murderer tries to spin the courts that what he did was an "assisted suicide." Nope, just plain ol' murder.

Murder conviction upheld in alleged aided suicide

The South Dakota Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction on Thursday of a Rapid City man who had argued that he did not commit murder in shooting a friend who was in chronic pain and wanted to die.

Robert Goulding, 53, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the November 2008 shooting death of his friend, Allen Kissner, near Sheridan Lake in the Black Hills. Kissner, 56, wanted to die because he was in chronic, terminal pain, was addicted to drugs and likely was returning to prison, Goulding said. more